This is the book that challenged basic assumptions about the nature of the physical universe by suggesting that we might all be living in a virtual reality - and that information might prove more fundamental than either matter or energy. At the time of publication (1988) this was still a revolutionary idea, but it is now growing familiar thanks to the success of films such as "Open Your Eyes" and "The Matrix". The ideas in this book have even been given an airing on the pages of New Scientist but, fourteen years on, this remains the most thorough and complete discussion of the virtual model of the universe. While others are beginning to explore the concept, the author had been working with it ever since the 1960s when he was studying mathematics at Cambridge university under Conway, himself a pioneer of artificial life studies. What struck the author was the division in society between those who fully accepted a materialistic view of existence and all phenomena, and those who felt there was 'something more behind it'. This book was an attempt to bridge that division by pointing out how the most extreme materialistic viewpoint would tend eventually to blow open its own walls far more effectively than any spoon-bending exercise. What seemed like two irreconcilable structures of belief would turn out to be just two complementary ways of approaching mystery. This edition contains the original text with new introduction and two further essays plus two stories appended to carry the debate forward into the 21st Century

Author Biography

Ramsey Dukes is the best known pen name of Lionel Snell, known since 1976 for his radical and influential books about occult philosophy and rationalism, chaos magic, the virtual universe, and magical thinking. Described by Alan Moore, author of Jerusalem, V for Vendetta etc, as ...the most lucid, coherent and insightful intellect to emerge from British occultism for some several decades. Educated at Clifton College, Bristol, where his interest in alchemy and science history was fired by access to the EJ Holmyard collection, and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied the extensive works of Aleister Crowley an he took a Diploma in Education and taught at Eton College and later at The New Waldorf School, Kings Langley. Subsequent work includes aircraft stressman, technical author and freelance ghost writer for the ICT sector. Other associations include membership of the London Magic Circle, the Caliphate OTO, the IoT and other occult groups and in 1977 he performed the Abramelin retirement. Ramsey Dukes has a popular YouTube channel featuring short discussions on magic and related topics.